Thursday, January 8, 2009

Editorial: Passive Monuments and Dynamic Changes In response to a long-standing request by NGS to the Geomatics Industry Association of America (GIA), and under the auspices of ACSM, a two-day symposium was held at NGS's legendary Corbin, Virginia facility in December. The purpose of the NGS-Geomatics Vendor Summit was to explore ways in which NGS can ....Read the Article

Point to Point: Minimum Level of Competency We turn now to a subject that has annoyed me for years, and shortly you shall see why. Discourse is, by its very nature, most useful when the language used moves the conversation in a helpful direction. But we have a term in licensing that (to me) seems calculated to truncate that conversation ....Read the Article

Finding My Inner Indiana Jones—Using Carlson SurvCEEvery day as I headed to my job, the theme from Indiana Jones kept running through my head. I even had the hat! The site I was surveying was older than any piece of property I had ever worked on before. I was working in the dry, barren desert sands of ... Read the Article

A View into Stadium Innovation from the Top The new 63,000-seat-plus Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis will no doubt serve notice to sports fans, sports media and industry around the nation that the Circle City is a serious entertainment and convention business player. The facility is designed for ...Read the Article

Conference Review: JAVAD GNSS User Conference Under pleasant sunny skies, I gathered last July with nearly 70 users and dealers from around the world to attend the first annual JAVAD GNSS User Conference in Moscow. At the time, the first order of 100 Triumph-1 receivers was being distributed, and a second production run of 1,000 receivers was in ....Read the Article

Equipment Review: Spectra Precision EPOCH 25 GPS System The EPOCH 25 GPS System, manufactured by Spectra Precision, is a unique system that markets to a unique customer base. Priced in the neighborhood of $25k for a complete system, the term return on investment doesn't sound so daunting­especially for those who are only now considering entering the....Read the Article

Vantage Point: The Curse of (Certain) Tall Buildings Everyone was wearing red, there was shouting in the streets, and trains headed downtown were filled to capacity on that bright Halloween morning. While this may not sound like the start of a surveying/land use story, be patient. Will Rogers, American humorist, social commentator, actor, and icon, once said ...Read the Article

It's Your Business: The Business Of Surveying—People, Product and Profits As Americans grind through the painful realities of an economic recession, valuable lessons are being learned. This article is for anyone running a surveying business, considering running one, or hoping to have more impact as an employer. All of us know someone that started their ...Read the Article

FeedBack Regarding Joel Leininger's article "Boundaries by Acquiescence," [Oct. 2008], there is one sure-fire method that surveyors can use to permanently fix any boundary that may have been established by acquiescence or that is otherwise ambiguous, provided the adjoining landowners are willing to go along. It is a written ...Read the Article

Surveyors Report: Yellow Jackets and Other Vile Critters One of the most glorious occurrences in this business of land surveying is that magical moment you sight through the instrument's telescope only to behold a true wonder of nature. On line 200­-300' ahead are your front man and brush cutter doing the yellow jacket shuffle. You know ...Read the Article